Stuffer warp ribbon for pile fabric and method of making same



Dec. 6, 1955 B. M. KIMBALL STUFFER WARP RIBBON FOR PILE FABRIC ANDMETHOD OF riled Dec.

MAKING SAME l8 1951 INVENTOR. BENJAMIN M. K/MEALL HTTOENEY n ted StatesPatent Benjamin M.. Kimball, Gilman, Vt., assignor to The (IellucordCorporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation Application December 18,1951, Serial No. 262,249

Claims. (Cl..206-'--59) This, invention relates to laminated crepedpaper ribbons for use as stufier warp ribbons in pile fabric backings.

It is conventional to employ st'uiier warp yarns, in the pile. fabric offloor coverings. An inherent disadvantage in. the use of stuffer warpyarns is their tendency to arrange themselves in random order instead ofside by side in a horizontal plane. Furthermore, the conventional methodin rug mills today is to have a so called creel set up that will take upto as high as 4,000 spools of" yarn, and" these 4,000 spools of yarn areall drawn together on a. beam. These beams vary in Width from perhaps28" up to 90" or possibly wider depending on the width of 100m that thebeam will supply. Efforts have been made to substitute ribbons for theyarn but satisfactory ribbons for. this'purpose have not heretofore beendeveloped. Thus it is, that although pile fabric manufacturers wouldvery definitely prefer to use ribbons in the place and stead of yarn,they find it necessary, for want of suitable ribbons to continue toemploy yarn exclusively.

Stuffer warp ribbon must possess certain important properties. In thefirst place, it must. be strongand its useful life must correspond tothe useful life of stuffer warp yarn. In the second place, it must berelatively stiff so as to impart such rigidity to the pile fabric thatit will lie flat upon a floor under all conditions of normal use andabuse. But the stifiness of the ribbon must not be excessive since somemeasure of flexibility is also to be desired. Furthermore, the ribbonmust be stretchable, Within reasonable limitations, otherwise there isserious interference with the loom operations. Other importantproperties which the ribbon must possess'are the following: It isnecessary that the ribbon be of uniform thickness throughout. and ofuniform width. Insofar as the looming operations are concerned, it isabsolutely essential that the ribbon be made available in a plurality ofparallel, adjacent strips which are fed simultaneously to the loom.

The ribbon which has thus far been triedv is a folded paper ribbon,wherein a strip of paper is folded upon itself several times alongparallel, longitudinally extending folding lines. Ribbon of this typehas proved to be unsatisfactory. For one thing, it lacks sufficientstretchability. Secondly, it is not flexible enough for the loomingoperations and it is not uniform either in thickness or in width. It hasalso been found very diificult to wind such ribbon into suitable rollsand to provide a beam of such rolls toproperly feed the ribbon to theloom. Other disadvantages have been encountered in ribbon made of foldedpaper.

It is accordingly the principal object of this invention to provide astuffer warp ribbon in which all of the disadvantages above mentionedare avoided.

Another important object of this invention is the provision of a slitroll of ribbon of the character described. When ribbon is used in theplace of stufifer Warp yarn, it is necessary to feed the ribbon from aplurality of ribbon rolls. When the ribbon is made of folded paper, itis necessary to wind each ribbon roll individually and then toincorporate the individual rolls into a single composite Ice llatented,,Dec. 6,, 195.5

roll consisting of a plurality of individual rolls mounted side by sideon a common corev or shaft. The task of winding the individual rolls andthen uniting. the. individual rolls into a single. composite roll, whichoperation is known as beaming, is most difii'cult, and this problemalone has discouraged the use of ribbon in they place and stead ofstuffer warp yarn.

In the present invention, the beaming operation is eliminated. A singlemaster roll of laminated crepe paper of any convenient width, isproduced in conventional equipment and without the slightest bit ofdifiiculty. The laminated crepe paper is then fed from this roll to asecond roll, but once this unrolling and rolling operation getsunderway, the paper is split or slit into a plurality of parallelribbons which are simultaneously wound onto the second roll.

The end result of the present invention is. not only an improved pilefabric, but also an improved method of making the same. The benefitsboth to the ultimate consumer and the manufacturer are manifest.

A preferred form of this invention showing. both the stuffer warp ribbonin its formative and final stages and the apparatus for making the same,is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a fragmentary perspective view of a laminated.

ribbon made in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. la is a similar view showing how a sheet of laminated material isslit along parallel lines to form a pillrality of ribbons of the kindshown. in Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 is a somewhat diagrammatic view of apparatus for making thelaminated sheet material of Fig. la and rolling it up into a singleroll.

Fig. 3 is another diagrammatic view showing how said roll of laminatedsheet material is slit and rolled into a second roll, and the apparatusfor performing this opera tion is also shown therein.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective View showing how the unsl'ittedleading end of the first-mentioned roll is wound up upon a core in theprocess of forming the second mentioned roll, and also showing that theslitting of the material takes place only after the second mentionedroll is begun.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the second mentioned rollshowing that the opposite end of the sheet material from the end shownin Fig- 4 is also unslitted, Figs. 4 and 5 being intended 'to show thatthe ends of the ribbons are all integral with each other in the secondroll.

The laminated sheet 10 shown in Fig. la is made on the apparatus shownin Fig. 2. It will 'there be seen that three rolls 12, 14 and 15,respectively, of crepe paper, are mounted for rotation on three parallelshafts l3, 2%) and 22, respectively. in the preferred form of thisapparatus, the three rolls of crepe paper are mounted one above theother in a common vertical plane. The uppermost roll 12 feeds its crepepaper 24 between two rollers 26 and 28 which function as idlers. Thepaper then passes over an adhesive-applying roller 30 which is incontact with another roller 32, the latter roller being adapted to rollin liquid adhesive 34 carried in container 3d.

It will be noted that the undersidev of paper 24 engages roller 30 andconsequently it is the underside of said paper to which the adhesive isapplied. The adhesive coated paper 24 then passes under an idler 38 andit is thereby brought into engagement with paper 40 fed from roll 14.This. paper 4-0 passes over an idler 42 after it leaves roll 14, and itthen passes under an idler 4.4 and .over an idler 46. It is at themoment that paper 4% passes over idler 46 that it engagesv the adhesivecoated underside f p per 24. Sim ltaneous y, pape e from roll 16 alsopasses over idler 46 and enters into engagement with the underside ofpaper 49. It will be noted, however, that the top surface of paper 48,at the time contact is made with the underside of paper 4 3, is coatedwith adhesive as the apparatus for producing this condition is similarto the apparatus above described for coating with adhesive the undersideof paper 24. it will be seen that after paper 48 leaves roll 16, itpasses over an idler 50, under a second idler 52, over a third idler 54and under a fourth idler 56. It then passes over an adhesive-applyingroller 58 which corresponds to roller 30, said roller 58 being inrolling engagement with roller 60 which corresponds to roller 32 abovementioned. Roller 60 rolls in liquid adhesive 62 carried in container64. It is the underside of paper 48 which receives the adhesive but saidpaper then passes around roller 46 and its adhesive-coated undersidebecomes its upper surface which enters into engagement with theunderside of paper 40.

Summarizing the foregoing, it will be seen that paper web 24 has acoating of adhesive applied to its underside and paper web 48 has acoating of adhesive applied to its upper side. No adhesive is applied topaper web 40 but since both of its surfaces are brought into contactwith the adhesive-coated sides of web 24 and web 48, it is clear thatall three webs of paper will tend to adhere to each other followingtheir engagement with roller 46. The three webs of paper then pass overidler 66 and through dryer 68 where the adhesive sets. Adhesion is nowcomplete and what was previously three sheets of paper is now a singleweb of laminated paper 10. This laminated paper web then passes betweenidlers 7t) and 72 and it is finally rolled up into roll 74.

A fragment of laminated web is shown in enlarged sectional view in Fig.la and it will there be seen that the three layers or larninations 24,4t) and 48 of crepe paper adhere together to form the single web 1! oflaminated crepe paper. In other words, not only is each laminationcreped in appearance and construction, but the laminated sheet or web isitself a creped composite structure.

It will be noted in Fig. la that slitting lines 76 are indicatedinlaminated web 10, and it will be understood that the apparatus shownin Fig. 3 slits the material along said slitting lines to form aplurality of individual ribbons 78. Since these ribbons are cut from alaminated creped sheet, they themselves are laminated and creped. It isimportant to note, however, that there are no folds in ribbons 78 andthat their laminated creped structure is substantially uniformthroughout. The physical characteristics of the ribbons depend both ontheir creped laminated structure and on the nature of the ma terial ofwhich the individual laminations are made. Creped paper is, of course,to be preferred but other sheet material may also be found suitable forthe purposes of this invention. When paper is used, it should be ofrather substantial stock, preferably of wet strength. Kraft paper hasbeen found to be very suitable for this purpose. Among the importantcharacteristics of laminated creped ribbon 78 is its stretchability. Ithas been found that a ribbon of this type made from creped kraft paperof wet strength is stretchable or extensible to the extent ofapproximately 3 /2%, It is this characteristic, taken together with thefact that the ribbon is just stiff enough and yet not too stilf,sufiiciently pliable and yet not too pliable, strong, durable anddimensionally uniform throughout, that render this laminated crepedribbon very useful and highly satisfactory for stuffer warp purposes.

Turning now to Fig. 3, it will be seen that roll 74 is rotatably mountedfor feeding its laminated creped web 10 over idler 80 and then under andaround idler 82. Web 10 then passes between rotary slitting knives 84and 86 where it is slit along lines 76 shown in Fig. 1a. The slit sheetthen passes around roller 88 and on to roll 90 which constitutes thefinished product of the process herein claimed. It will be noted thatroll 90 is mounted on a core or shaft 92 and that said core or shaft ismounted in vertical guides 94. The shaft is free to rotate in saidguides and to move vertically therein. As the roll increases indiameter, shaft 92 moves upwardly in compensation thereof. It will beseen that this arrangement dove-tails with the fact that roll isrotatably cradled between and supported by roller 88, above mentioned,and roller 96 which corresponds thereto.

An extremely important feature of this invention resides in the factthat the slitting operation does not extend to the very ends oflaminated sheet 10. One end 10a of said laminated sheet is shown in Fig.4 and the opposite end 10b of said laminated sheet is shown in Fig. 5.The actual slits 76 are shown in both of said figures, and it will beseen that said slits extend up to but not into said end portions 100 and10b. The exact length of these end portions is not critical, but endportion 10a should be sufficiently long so as to encircle or wrap aroundcore 92 at least several times or enough to secure itself to said core.The opposite end 10b should be long enough to be Wrapped around roll 90several times and thereby to protect the individual ribbons and to holdthem together. Thus, although roll 90 is really a series of individualrolls of ribbon mounted together on a common core, it may be handled andused as a single composite entity.

When the winding of roll 90 takes place, unslit end 10a is the leadingor forward end. However, on unwinding, unslit end 10b becomes theleading or forward end. It will, of course, be. understood that end 10bmust be detached from the roll in order to feed the individual ribbonsinto the loom.

The foregoing is illustrative of the basic principles of this invention.It will be understood that modifications therein may be had, both in theproduct and in the apparatus or method, within the broad spirit of theinvention and the broad scope of the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A beam of stuffer warp ribbon material for use in pile fabric, saidbeam comprising a sheet slit longitudinally of itself intermediate itsend portions to form a plurality of stutter warp ribbons which areconnected to each other only at their respective ends, said sheetencircling a core and constituting a roll of stuffer warp ribbons, oneof the ends of said sheet encircling and gripping the core on the insideof said roll and the opposite end of said sheet.

encircling and embracingly enclosing the ribbons on the outside of saidroll to protect the ribbons and hold them in place.

2. A sheet of stuffer warp ribbon material in accordance with claim 1,said sheet being of laminated crepe pat/pile; and being extensible tothe extent of approximately 3. A beam of stufier warp ribbons for use inpile fabric, said beam consisting of a plurality of individual rolls ofribbon mounted side by side on a common core, all of the ribbons of saidindividual rolls being integrally connected to each other at theirrespective ends, both inside and outside their said rolls.

A roll of stutfer warp ribbons in accordance with, claim 3, wherein saidribbons are made of laminated crepe. paper and are stretchable to theextent of approximately 5. The method of making in one operation a beamsuitable for direct use on a rug loom, comprising the steps oflaminating a plurality of layers of sheet material to form a singlelaminated web, winding said web into a roll, then winding the trailingend of said roll around a core a number of turns, then slitting saidsheet intermediate its ends longitudinally of itself and along parallelslitting lines to produce a plurality of ribbons which are separate fromeach other along said slitting lines, said slitting operation beingperformed simultaneously with the unwinding of the web from the roll andthe rewinding of the ribbons onto the core, then discontinuing theslitting operation before the expiring end of the roll is reached, andthen continuing the rewinding operation to wind the expiring unslitportion of the web a few turns to form a wrapper completely around thebeam of ribbons to hold all in position uniformly flat and tight and toprotect the ribbons from damage in handling, said unslit portion of theweb also serving as a leading end of the beam for attachment to anexpiring end of a preceding beam.

453,003 Hicks May 26, 1891 6 Wheeler June 16, 1891 Curnfer et a1. Feb.26, 1918 Kasuga Apr. 1, 1924 Humphner Aug. 11, 1936 Rowe Sept. 7, 1937Miller Oct. 5, 1937 Miller July 18, 1939 Gilfillan Apr. 8, 1941 MarcinApr. 15, 1941 Heygel Jan. 21, 1947 Nichols Sept. 18, 1951

